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Lucy Arnold’s death has shocked Passage traders |
Traders pay tribute as popular Passage campaigner dies at 49
Glass dealer who fought for small businesses suffers heart attack in hospital
ONE of Camden Passage’s best-loved characters, Lucy Arnold, has died of a heart attack in hospital while being treated for a brain tumour. She was 49.
A glass dealer, wife and mother, she campaigned ceaselessly on behalf of the famous thoroughfare for almost 20 years.
With a shop opposite Islington Green, she helped set up the new Angel Business Improvement District (BID) with specific funds to target regeneration in the area.
Calum Robertson, of the Waistcoat shop in the Passage, described Lucy as a tower of strength and a great organiser.
He said: “Her death came as a great shock and she will be badly missed by her husband, son and daughter and by the traders. Personally, she was always next door helping me out when I had a problem. Her death is a terrible tragedy.”
Mike Weedon, a member of the Camden Passage Traders Association, said Lucy was an excellent campaigner for hard-pressed antique dealers.
He added: “She understood the problems, was greatly respected, and worked tirelessly for the traders.”
Passage traders this week spoke about the good and bad they experienced in 2007 and admitted they anticipate a difficult new year with the threat of recession.
They welcomed former actress Sadie Frost’s new fashion store earlier in 2007 but saw further misery with the closure of Angel Arcade.
Traders also fear for the future of The Mall following its acquisition by a property developer.
Mr Weedon was happy to see the end of 2007.
“It’s been a hard year,” he said. “Big business has got more powerful and small people are finding it really difficult to compete.”
He said traders fear their rates will go up further and rent will be increased.
Mr Weedon said: “Small businesses, which are what most of us are in Camden Passage, must fight to survive. We hear there could be a property crash and a recession which makes us all feel very, very uneasy. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.
“Basically you cope through a recession by learning to do everything yourself. You have to keep your expenses down, you can’t employ people, and you have to control what you spend.”
He added: “It’s a lovely place to live and work and is the heart and soul of Islington.”
Over at Chapel Market, Peter Adamides, chairman of the traders ‘association, thought 2007 was reasonably good, with positive relations between Islington Council and Angel town centre manager Christine Lovett.
Mr Adamides added: “Business has remained steady and we had new toilets and new electric boxes. Now in the early new year the council will begin putting down new paving”.
The pavement slabs on both sides are being replaced, which will take several months.
“They have already paved the top half of the market,” Mr Adamides added. “My plea to the customers is that it might on occasion be awkward, but the market is definitely open for business.”
Mr Adamides said of his hopes for the new year: “We know the economic situation is not getting any better but that’s happening everywhere. We hope the council won’t increase our rents. Later in the new year we are looking forward to resurfacing of the market street and better signage of the market.”
In St Peter’s Street, award-winning publican Geetie Singh called for hundreds of tons of commercial waste in the borough to be recycled rather than tipped into holes in the ground.Ms Singh, a member of the London Mayor’s Food and Ecology Group, took a stand in 2007 and decided to pay for a private recycling firm to remove her pub’s waste rather than leave it to the council to empty into landfill. Ms Singh is the owner of Britain’s first organic pub, the Duke of Cambridge.
“While the government has set targets for domestic recycling,” she said, “there are none for business waste. Much of the material from Islington pubs and restaurants, including kitchen waste, cardboard, plastic and hundreds of thousands of bottles, ends up in landfill sites in Essex and Hertfordshire, which are fast filling up.”
She added: “Re-cycling is a beneficial thing and can actually contribute to the economy. But that’s not enough. We have to actually stop using unnecessary packing.”
She called for a single waste authority for London, as advocated by London mayor Ken Livingstone.
“It would give Ken the power to organise the collection of London waste in a strategic way,” she said. “The government said no to that, which is partly why there is little interest in recycling business waste in the capital.” |
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